


Happy Birthday

by rebbie



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-31 23:26:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6491698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebbie/pseuds/rebbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>got this idea in my head because it was a fellow shipper's birthday! (frankecastle on tumblr, give her some love)<br/>was originally going to send a headcanon/imagine but just couldn't shut up about it, so this happened.<br/>my first go at this ship and i'm not quite sure i'm really ~in there yet but hey.</p></blockquote>





	Happy Birthday

It's her birthday. Her fucking birthday. 

10:38 pm, to be exact, and Karen was supposed to be at the bar over an hour ago. She wasn't expecting something extraordinary or elaborate. She never has. She just thought maybe she could get the night off. But the thing about birthdays is that they don't exist in a vacuum. It is still a weekday, and she still has deadlines to meet.

_Happy birthday._

With a sigh, she closes her laptop and gathers her files. The least she can do for herself is to be in her own apartment, in her pyjamas, with a glass of wine or four. She grabs her phone to send a text to Foggy, likely the only one still waiting for her. She could call Matt too, but calls to Matt are kind of like birthdays: easily overshadowed, forgotten or ignored. He could be on a roof somewhere, or bleeding out in an alley, or..

No. She will not go there. She will not spend her birthday, or whatever is left of it, worrying. 

She throws her phone in her bag after sending the text: an "I'm sorry", an "I'm safe", with a hint of "maybe another night". She shuts off the lights and locks her office before heading downstairs and outside. 

The noise of the city is so constant that it's almost reassuring. A strange source of comfort. When she first moved here, her adrenaline was through the roof at all times, as though every horn or shout was directed at her. It's the silence, now, that she finds oddly unsettling, like everything suddenly disappears around you. Usually right before something bad happens - the calm before the storm, as they say. 

Walking home, her mind wanders. She thinks about Frank.. she can't help it. She half expects to see him around every corner, disappearing into the shadows. She's not worrying, not necessarily. Just wonders where he might be. How far away. He always seems to show up when she's in trouble. For weeks she's been trying to decide if he's always in the right place at the right time, or if she's just in the wrong place at the same time. Either way, they have a tendency to find one another. 

Even though she doesn't consider many places 'safe', her apartment feels like the closest thing. It doesn't hurt that she knows Frank drops by from time to time. She can always tell, after. She never keeps her window open, so she can feel the difference in the air after he's been there. There is never so much as a hair out of place, but she knows that if she were to check the bathroom, the first aid kit under the sink would need replenishing, and the bathtub or sink may have been recently bleached. This should bother her, she thinks. The intrusion, the implications of it all. Somehow, it has the opposite effect. She thinks maybe he feels safe there too. 

It feels cool inside her apartment and she can smell the fresh air. She sighs deeply and breathes it in, dropping her bags. She can tell that he was here, and that she didn't miss him by much. It's strange, she thinks, for him to have come and gone so quickly, and so early. 

Then she sees the box. And the flower. 

Sitting on top of her desk against the wall. 

A blush warms her cheeks and she smiles, covering her mouth with her hand. She takes a few slow steps towards the desk, almost nervously. This could be a trap or a trick, and sure, she would be worried.. if she didn't recognize the box and feel almost entirely confident this was Frank's doing. 

\----

_"It your birthday or something?"_

_He gestured towards the small plate the waitress had just put down, arguably too small for the cupcake it was carrying. Vanilla cake, vanilla icing, coconut, white chocolate. Her favourite._

_She smiled - for the first time that day._

_"No. Just had a shitty fucking day and I deserve this cupcake. Do you have a problem with that?"_

_She's pulling his leg. He gets this particular look on his face when they joke around, like they're sharing a secret between them._

_He smiled and looked down. If his face weren't thoroughly bruised, she would have sworn he was blushing._

_Still looking down and still smiling, he shook his head slightly._

_"No, ma'am."_

_\----_

Karen unwraps the flower, a single yellow tulip, and puts it in a tall glass of water on her bedside table. 

She gets into her pyjamas and pours herself a glass of wine, unpacks her files and laptop, sits at her desk and opens the small box.

Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting, coconut, white chocolate. Her favourite. 

The sugar rush gets her about an hour of solid work before she becomes restless. She's just finishing off her third glass of wine when she feels a draft of cold air and turns toward the window.

Frank is caught off guard when he sees her sitting there. He looks down at the floor and rubs the back of his neck shyly. Who'd have thought the Punisher could be caught by surprise. He seems fine, all things considered. A small cut on his lip and a bruise on his left cheek. He looks tired, Karen thinks. He looks up at her briefly before immediately looking away. 

"Sorry, ah, didn't think you'd be.." 

"You're okay. I'm just working."

He nods tersely. 

"Right, I'll just, uh." 

"You don't have to go, Frank. It's okay." 

He looks around the room, seemingly unsure of his next move.

She tries to tread lightly. 

"The couch is all yours, if you want, or I could order food, um, if you're.." 

He shakes his head and lifts his hand respectfully to cut her off. 

"You don't have to do that. I can go." 

He reaches for the window and she stands up, wanting desperately to stop him but feeling suddenly vulnerable. 

"Frank.."

He turns to face her and she can feel her heartbeat quicken under his gaze. She holds her arms tight to her chest.

"Stay. Please."

He meets her eyes and tilts his head to the side. Seconds pass before a smile slowly tugs at his lips.  

"Yes, ma'am." 

Karen relaxes her body and nods matter-of-factly.

"Good. I'll just be right over here working away, you'll barely even know I'm here." 

She sits back down at her desk, grinning shamelessly now that he can't see her face. 

Frank laughs breathily and takes a seat on the couch, groaning quietly as he leans over to pull off his boots. When he finally speaks, his deep voice is barely audible over the low hum of the city outside her window. 

"Happy birthday, by the way." 

 

**Author's Note:**

> got this idea in my head because it was a fellow shipper's birthday! (frankecastle on tumblr, give her some love)  
> was originally going to send a headcanon/imagine but just couldn't shut up about it, so this happened.  
> my first go at this ship and i'm not quite sure i'm really ~in there yet but hey.


End file.
